Author: Christa Avampato

The short of it: Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day. The long of it: My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events. While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series. A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist. My company: I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media: • I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference; • I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable; • I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me. Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
creativity

The Joy of Podcasting and Neurodivergent Stories with Carolyn Kiel

Christa Avampato

“I find my joy in podcasting.” ~Carolyn Kiel

I’m happy to share this week’s JoyProject podcast interview with the wonderful Carolyn Kiel, creator & host of Beyond 6 Seconds: a #neurodiversity podcast.

In this episode, Carolyn shares her journey and joy behind the microphone as she lifts up the stories of her guests.

At the end of the episode, I share the tools I use to create JoyProject: Zencastr for interviews, Otter_ai for transcripts, WordPress for the website, Headliner Video for audiograms, Unsplash for photos, Anchor for podcast hosting and distribution, Canva for quote posters that I share on social media, & Twisted Wave for audio editing.

Listen to the episode at https://christaavampato.com/the-joy-of-podcasting-and-neurodivergent-stories-with-carolyn-kiel/ and wherever you get your podcasts.

creativity

Research is a writer’s best friend

Christa Avampato
Art by CJ Bown of the Arcade in Central Park that hangs in my apartment

I’m under contract to write the third novel in my Emerson Page trilogy. I’ve struggled to find my footing with this one. I’ve written out over half a dozen concepts and nothing felt genuine. It all felt like a forced narrative. This has been going on for months.

I had a hunch that the book should begin in the Arcade near Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain. I wasn’t sure how or why, but that space has called to me for years. I have a huge photograph of it hanging in my apartment, and it’s one of my favorite pieces of art. For months I’ve been looking for interesting aspects of the arcade and the fountain, hoping to find some link to Emerson’s story. Nothing.

So I went back to the primary source—Greensward, the original plan for Central Park written by Olmsted and Vaux in 1858. Bethesda Fountain and Terrace, along with the Arcade, are considered the heart of the Park. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Nature had an enormous influence on the design of Central Park. Both Olmsted and Vaux admired him. My protagonist, Emerson Page, is named after Emerson.

From there, I did more research on Emerson, Olmsted, and Vaux and found a number of links to the muses of Greek mythology who figure prominently in Emerson Page’s story. All the pieces I’d been struggling to find fell into place one by one and before I knew it, my outline of the third book was humming after so many false starts.

If you find yourself stuck in your writing, I highly encourage a detour into research and into primary sources. The answers to our present challenges often have roots in the past. Our job as writers is to uncover them and bring them into the light.

creativity

Sharing my biomimicry journey

Christa Avampato

This year marks 25 years since the release of Janine Benyus’s book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. The Biomimicry Institute is marking the occasion with a set of videos from biomimicry practitioners about how they got interested in biomimicry. I’m honored to be asked to participate and have them share my journey in this short video. Learn why I decided to pursue biomimicry and how storytelling can help us build a more sustainable world.

creativity

Need a boost of joy? I’ve got you covered with my Joyful News podcast episodes.

Christa Avampato
Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

We need joyful news. In addition to the first interview of the JoyProject podcast, The Joy of Old Things with Ashley Semrick, I released my first Joyful News episode.

Joyful News is a set of stories I’ve gathered from around the world that spark joy. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen here, along with viewing a transcript, extra links, and resources: https://christaavampato.com/joyful-news-5-3-22/

In this episode, I talk about: 
– my 15-year business school reunion at UVA Darden School of Business
– a Brooklyn bookstore crawl
– roads in India made from plastic waste
– a parade of planets
– a new orchard on Governors Island with a historical twist
– Don’t Hesitate, a poem about joy by the beloved poet, Mary Oliver

creativity

My JoyProject podcast launches TODAY: The Joy of Old Things with Ashley Semrick and a joyful news segment

Christa Avampato

My podcast, JoyProject, launches its first interview and joyful news episodes TODAY. Historian and teacher, Ashley Semrick, talks to me about The Joy of Old Things. Listen at the link below or anywhere you listen to podcasts. This link also has a transcript of the episode, photos, and links to extra resources.

In this episode, Ashley and I talk about our love for history and its relevance in society today. We explore the history and stories held in objects, and how anyone can get started doing historical research about any topic that interests them. We especially focus on teaching history to young people and getting them excited about digging into the past as a way to understand the world around us.

Topics discussed in this episode:

– The complexity and necessity of joy in difficult times, and how to find it and create it

– How and why to teach history to young people

– How to conduct historical research about any topic of interest

– The important role of museums, media, and cemeteries in historical research

– Ashley shares how her parents sparked her love of history at a young age

– How Ashley found and returned a 100+ year old diary to the family of the man who wrote it thanks to Ancestry

– The joy of found objects and discovering the history behind them

– NYC’s Sanitation Museum—a collection of found objects curated by a NYC Department of Sanitation worker who collected items that New Yorkers threw out for 30+ years

https://christaavampato.com/the-joy-of-old-things-with-ashley-semrick/
creativity

Audiograms for the JoyProject podcast

Christa Avampato

I started making audiograms for the JoyProject podcast that launches on Tuesday, May 3rd. They are easy to make with Headliner.com and provide a fun way to get a bit of conversation out into the world. This is the trailer that tells you what the podcast is all about. What do you think? All the details about the podcast are available at https://christaavampato.com/joyproject

creativity

The JoyProject podcast launches in 1 week on 5/3/22

Christa Avampato

One week from today on Tuesday, May 3rd, the JoyProject podcast will launch with the first interview and a Joyful News segment! I start each conversation by asking people “what brings you joy?” There will be a new episode every other week on Tuesday mornings. The trailer is live now at https://christaavampato.com/joyproject

Ashley Semrick will be our first guest on May 3rd and it’s a joy-filled episode that celebrates history.

After 2 years of thinking about this exploration of joy, I can’t wait to share it with everyone. You can get all the details and listen to episodes at https://christaavampato.com/joyproject

creativity

My sustainability interview series for InnoLead is live for Earth Day

Christa Avampato
Photo by Photo Boards on Unsplash

Happy Earth Day!

For the next two months, a sustainability series I’m writing for the site InnoLead will be published and we’re kicking it off today with an interview I did with Shannon Carroll, Assistant Vice President of Global Environmental Sustainability, for AT&T. We talked about how to structure a sustainability team within a large company, stretch goals, and building for resiliency in an ever-changing world. I’d love to know what you think!

Here’s the link: https://www.innovationleader.com/strategy-and-governance/how-atandt-is-setting-sustainability-stretch-goals-and-driving-progress/1933.article

creativity

This blog is also a podcast

Christa Avampato
Photo by Will Francis on Unsplash

WordPress and Anchor make it easy to turn a blog into a podcast so I did it! Curating a Creative Life is now available on Anchor, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Audible, Castbox, RadioPublic, and Stitcher.

I wanted to expand this distribution to make this blog more accessible to more people in more places. From the blog, you can click the “listen on Spotify” icon at the top of the posts that are on the podcast, go to the links above or search “Curating a Creative Life Through Writing” on any of the platforms where it’s available, or go to this website for all of the direct links: https://anchor.fm/christa-avampato.

If you’d like to turn your WordPress blog into a podcast, here are the step-by-step instructions. Happy listening!

creativity

Write down your writing accountability goals

Christa Avampato
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

Many times people ask me how to write a book. What they really mean is how do I make time to write. It’s not easy. There is always something else I could do. There are a million reasons not to write and only one reason to write: because it matters to me. I have lots of tools that I use to keep my writing organized. There’s one that I use to hold myself accountable: concrete, actionable goals.

Each week, I write down specific writing goals for that week. I make them specific, actionable, and time-sensitive. Then I take those weekly goals and turn them into daily goals that when added up get me to that cumulative weekly goal. Each weekly goal folds into a larger goal—a book, a screenplay, adding to my writing portfolio, pitching more of my work, etc.

Writing down my writing goals makes them real. Once I write them down, I have to do them. There’s magic in motivation we can see.